Light and Dark
by Bat-teen 28
Summary: Origin. Luna Fright (Midfright) Alice Carrol (Alice). Enjoy.
1. Chapter 1

Pitch Black.

**Note: Luna and Alice's origin story! I hope you guys like it! :D**

* * *

The rain fell heavily across Gotham, it was like the heavens had opened and aloud the water from sea fall on the dark city. Gothamites ran this way and that, cars drove through the quiet streets quickly, it was like everything had been put on fast forward.

Only one person walked slowly, ignoring the world around them and focusing on the floor. The black hood with red trimming shielded the girl's face, but she wouldn't have it any other way.

She paused for a moment in front of a shop window and glanced at her reflection. Mismatched eyes, one green, one purple with white pupils stared back at her, observing the grey skin and rich orange hair, with black streaks running through it.

Luna Fright stared at her reflection, the sight of it made her wish she never looked. Why had she in the first place? Every single mirror at her home was broken and shattered, she'd broken them of course, but only because she didn't want to see her face, see her horrid and terrifying features.

"God must really hate me," Luna whispered as she continued to stare at her reflection.

"Mommy look, a monster!"

Luna looked to her left and found a little girl staring at her and pointing, fear was evident in her eyes, she was obviously scared, not that Luna could blame her. Her appearance…. well, looking normal was out of the question with her skin and eyes and hair…. hell everything was a complete mess!

She sighed and walked past the staring and frightened child, she was used to the stares and the name calling, but it still hurt not as much as…. no, no! Luna don't think about that, don't even mention it.

She grimaced a little before her face went back to it's unemotional state.

That grey area of her past… that dark part in her life… it was something she did not, nor did she need to look back from. She'd escaped that god awful basement and that house. She'd escaped her parents, she was safe.

"Ha! Safe in the least safest city how… ironic," Luna muttered as she walked up the steps to her small apartment.

She walked inside and was greeted by the same smells and the peeling, out of date wallpaper. It looked like it came from the 60s. The room smelt of cigaret smoke and beer. There was dust everywhere and on the wooden floor, if you looked close enough, you could see little speckles of blood.

But it was home to Luna, it was the only place she felt safe and secure. No one of any religious group lived here and if they did, they kept their believes quiet.

She back to walk up the steps when a scratchy voice appeared from behind her.

"Where's Ya' rent Luna?! You're late with Ya' money!"

Luna sighed and turned to the old and quite frankly, fat man as he stood at the bottom of the stairs, his vest was stained with beer and curry staines, a pair of dog tags hung round his neck, while small grey eyes focused themselves on Luna.

"It's coming, I just need a little more time," Luna assured.

"I'll give Ya' to the end of this week," how generous Luna thought.

She nodded and continued to walk up the stairs, once she reached the top the man called up again.

"You don't pay me by then, you're out! Good luck surviving here with a face like that!"

Luna clenched her fist, the shadows shuddered slightly and some began to curl around her fingers.

She stormed to her apartment and slammed the door shut, before dumping her back pack and coat on the floor before sitting on the bumpy excuse for a sofa in the middle of the room.

The wooden floorboards creaked as Luna got of the sofa and padded over to the kitchen to grab a snack, something to calm her hunger.

She slipped her boots off, once she was back on the sofa and switched the telly on. This had been her routine for the past year now, though she would probably have to move again if her mysterious watcher had found her once more.

Luna had never seen his face, he'd always been in shadow, hiding his face except for that crocked grin that would wined it's way on his lips whenever Luna spotted him.

The guy creeped her out, which was a feat considering what she had to face in the mirror everyday… oh wait a minute…. I broke all the mirrors didn't I?

Suddenly the lights and telly went out, but Luna was used to it, it happened frequently in this place.

Most people found it annoying, but Luna didn't. She'd give anything for it to stay dark, because the dark was a friend and home she knew and felt safe in better then any where else.

The dark was home. It was her home and no one could touch her when she was in the dark.

She stood up and looked outside at Gotham at all the twinkling lights… oh how she wished she could just plunge the all into darkness.

A light meow sounded outside and Luna smiled before opening the window to let the midnight black haired cat come inside.

She picked the little stray up and sat back down on the sofa, wrapping a blanket around her as she went.

"I've missed you Midnight, you're the only friend I have now," she sighed and looked at the ceiling. "I really need to get some money, but I don't know how. I mean, it's not like I could rob a bank…." she was silent for a moment as her mind considered this. A smile creeped it's way onto her lips. "Or maybe I could?"

* * *

At the same time, an eighteen year old girl stepped off the bus and walked out of Gotham's bus deport.

Her blond hair was pulled away from her face by an alice band and it was kept dry buy the hood of her blue coat. She smiled at city, revealing the gap between her two front teeth and she walked down the road, dodging puddles as she went.

She needed a place to stay, somewhere that wouldn't cost the much, but it would do for a few days until she found a better place and work.

She walked through the streets, carefully dodging puddles as she went so she didn't damage her ballet pumps, before she found herself standing outside a nice-ish looking building with a sign that said 'cheap rooms'.

The young woman smiled and walked inside, it was dark but a man was sitting at a desk with a candle as his light.

"What do Ya' want?" he asked in a gruff voice.

"I would like a room please, if it's not too much trouble," the girl answered sweetly.

"Name?" the man barked as he pulled a pen from behind his ear, his dog tags dangled over the little book he had in his hands.

"Alice. Alice Carrol," the girl answered, smiling at the man with her front toothed gap smile.

The man huffed and picked a hey up from the draw and beckoned Alice to follow him.

The stairs creaked as they walked up them, until they stopped and he took her to her room.

"Ya' neighbour is Luna Fright. She's a little strange but… you won't have to worry about her, she doesn't talk to anyone anyhow," the man said as he dropped the key in Alice's hand before making his way back downstairs.

Alice opened the door and walked in, before she closed it and began the hard job of navigating through the dark.

Eventually she managed it to her bedroom and dropped her victorian suitcase on the floor, before changing out of her travailing clothes and into her pjs. She snuggled up into bed, taking her Alice band off her head and laying it down on the pillow.

Maybe tomorrow she could go job hunting, as well as meeting this mysterious Luna Fright?

Alice smiled to herself. Yes that is what she would do.

T.B.C:

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**Note: Please leave a review! :D I hope you guys enjoyed it! :D**


	2. Chapter 2

The shadows speak.

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The day had been long for Luna, she walked through the decrepit streets to the connivance store on the corner, it's sign was already coming off, one window was border up from someone throwing a rock at it just last week, Luna had watched them do it. She could of stopped them, but what was the point?

She walked inside, her hood was still up, but it always stayed up, she never brought it down, found no reason to. Why have it down and have people stare at her? She'd had enough of that when she was a little girl, she did not, nor did she need to be reminded of how she looked.

That's why she broke her mirrors.

As she walked around the shop, picking selective items of the shelves, mainly consisting of ready meals, things she could just stick in a microwave and be done with. She was not a great cook and heavens knew she hated cooking, so why bother?

Once she had all her items she walked over to the counter, which a had a ginger hared boy standing behind… scratch that, his hare was bright red, his face was doted with freckles, he couldn't be any older then Luna but she could tell she was considerably taller then him, not that he was short, Luna was just a very tall girl.

He looked up at her and smiled, obviously he didn't care who he served and he had probably seen worse around.

"Just these," Luna muttered as she chucked the things on the counter.

"Got it sweet heart!" the boy cried as he began to price them up.

Luna raised an eyebrow at him. Why was he being nice to her? She looked like a freak yet this boy was trying (and failing Luna might add) to flirt with her.

"10 dollars girl, but for you babe I'll let you pay half," the boy explained, as he smiled.

Luna gave him a dead beat look and placed ten dollars on the counter, while she picked the rest of her stuff up.

"But I said-"

"Oh I know what you said, that's why I'm paying full price, I am not a charity case!"

"I wasn't meaning-"

"Just shut the hell up, I can't be doing with this today!"

The boy bowed his head and muttered an apology. "Ma' name's Conner by the way, Conner Slater."

Luna glanced up at him and sighed. "Luna Fright," she replied as she walked out of the shop, bumping somebody as they tried to get out at the same time.

"Oh I'm terribly sorry," cried the blond haired, baby blue eyed girl, she smiled at Luna showing a big gap between her two front teeth.

"It's fine," Luna muttered as she carried on down the street.

"I'm Alice Carrol," the explained as she caught up with her and trotted next to her, a spring in her step which contrasted with Luna's fast walk that almost looked like marching if she wasn't holding her arms loose.

"That's nice," Luna muttered as she continued.

"You're Luna Fright aren't you?" the girl said, that same smile on her face. That was really starting to get on Luna's nerves.

"Yeah.. what about it?"

"I'm your neighbour, I live next door to you," Alice explained.

"Yeah I know what 'neighbour' means. Really? You do?" asked Luna, shock evident in her voice.

"Why is that hard to believe?" asked Alice, she was confused.

"Well, it's just, that place is a bit of a dump and you look like you could afford better."

"Oh I could, just chose not to," Alice laughed. "But really I could say the same thing about you."

Luna laughed, but it was cold and bitter, the complete opposite to Alice's light hearted laugh. "You don't know me very well do you?" Luna said once she'd finished laughing.

"Umm, no not yet, but hopefully I will," Alice said, smiling brightly up at her.

Luna shook her head and walked into the small apartments they both lived at.

"Well, you may not have me as a neighbour for very long, the land lord will be kicking me out by the end of this week, if I can't pay the rent."

Alice gasped in shock as they started to walk up the rickety stairs. "But that's horrible!"

"Tell me about it," Luna muttered as she walked over to her door.

"Wait, do you want to have dinner at my place? I'll cook!" Alice cried happily.

Luna glanced at her and frowned. Why was she even talking to her? She hated talking to people because they always used to stair at her odd appearance, but Alice didn't seem to care about how she looked. "You… really want me to have dinner with you?" Luna questioned.

Alice nodded. "Oh yes please! I'll cook, plus.. if it's not too much to ask, do you think you could… I don't know, get the spider out of my bath room?"

Luna couldn't help but smile before she was laughing. "You're scared of spiders?"

"No, I just they're not right!"

"I think they're right in other spider's eyes."

"They have eight legs!"

"Like all spiders."

"I don't like them, please just get it out of my bathroom, it scared me," Alice pleaded.

Luna looked at the big baby blue eyes that stared up at him with a pleading look, that even Luna found hard to resist.

With a annoyed sigh Luna gave in. "Fine, I'll get the spider out and I'll have dinner with you."

"YAY!" cried Alice as she jumped into the air, before running into her apartment, followed by Luna.

Once she was inside, she felt like she had just entered the victorian era.

That's when she noticed it, Alice's dress looked like it was from the victorian era and she had a basket instead of a bag, which she placed on the shiny counter, before she looked over at Luna and smiled.

"Just hang your coat on the hook to your left, then I will take you to the land of spiders," Alice shivered, which made Luna smirk, before she hung her coat up and followed the victorian girl through to the bathroom.

* * *

Conner Slater. A boy who constantly ran into bad look, weather it be by his looks, where he was at the time or the fact he wouldn't take 'no' for answer. Maybe that was why he was running through the streets of Gotham city, trying to get away from the group who were chasing him.

He was used to this, he did it every day of his life, running. Though usually he was used to running away from them because they wanted the drugs he was carrying for his father, not this time though. They were chasing him because of who he worked for.

It's times like this when he really starts to reconsider his new career choice, but hell he loved it too much to give it up now.

As he took a sharp bend, he didn't notice the shadow following him and the mob that was chasing him, it sprinted across the rooftops, taking out one of the thugs silently as he took another bend.

Conner kept on running, he wash't going to stop, not until he was safe and away from the group that were chasing him.

He quickly jumped and flipped, before grabbing onto a metal pole and summersaulting through the air to land perfectly on a brick wall.

He turned to gloat at his attackers and found them all dead on the floor, all of them had a deathstar in their hands, one tried to get up, but was instantly shot down.

Conner turned to his side and saw Deadshot standing next to him. He eyed the kid that was next to him, the red hair making his face look very pale.

"Nice shot," Conner muttered.

"I told you to keep out of trouble Conner," Floyd snapped at him.

Conner sighed and looked at the floor. "Yeah, I tried but everything went wrong."

"I saw."

"Since when did you use deathstars any way?" Conner asked, trying to change the subject of his most hated one of 'I told you so'.

"What are you talking about?" asked Floyd.

Conner pointed at the group that lay on the floor.

"They were all out when I got here, except for the one I shot."

"But that was only a few seconds."

"Well whoever did it was very good and fast, because I didn't see them. I assumed you had taken them out."

Conner stared at him for a long time. "Well, if you didn't do it and I didn't do it… then who did?"

"Let's worry about that at another time, right now, you need to train and lesson 4 starts tonight 'Target'," explained Floyd as he jumped off the side of the wall, quickly followed by the red headed boy who would be known as Target in a few precious weeks, but before he followed his mentor, the boy took one last look at the alley, failing to notice the shadow that watched them from the rooftops, the long coat he was wearing blowing in the wind, just like the bandages on his face. The young boy who had saved Target, turned at the sound of another, only to find his mentor, who looked exactly the same as him, except for the fact the protoge' was wearing a Japanese clothing underneath the coat.

"Time to go Whisper," Hush hissed as he walked away from the young boy, who shortly followed after him.

* * *

An odd sound could be heard in the hotel, a sound that was not usually heard. The sound was laughter.

The uncommon sound drifted up the stairs to place of it's origin in Alice's apartment, it contained two voices and two laughs. One was light and chipper, the other was dark and slightly heavy.

Luna hand't laughed this much… ever. Her life had been covered in darkness for so long, she forgot how good it felt to laugh.

She looked at her new found friend and smiled. Alice was nice and excepted her for who she was, that was strange in it's self, but Luna was not complaining.

"Well, I need to get some sleep now, it's getting late," Luna laughed as she got to her feet and walked to the kitchen, placing her plate in the sink. "Thank you for dinner Alice."

"Not a problem Luna, you can come round any time, you look like you haven't eaten in days," Alice commented as she walked over to the sink herself.

"It feels like I haven't," Luna whispered before walking out of the kitchen and into the living room.

"Well, like I said, come round anytime and I will happily cook for you," Alice said smiling at her new found friend, the gap tooth grin ruining the perfect complexion.

Luna smiled and pulled her coat back on. "And if you see any more spiders just call me."

Alice giggled in a childish manner before nodding. "I will."

Luna nodded, opened the door before stepping out and heading towards her own apartment.

"Luna?"

"Yes Alice?"

"If you do get kicked out of your apartment, you can stay in mine."

Luna turned to Alice and gave her a genuine smile. "Thank you."

Alice nodded and closed her door, leaving Luna in pitch blackness, her home, her comfort zone.

Then she saw it, the silhouette of a tall lean figure, one she knew because it had been following her around ever since she came here.

"Hey stop!" she shouted as she ran down the stairs, chasing after the silhouette as it shot down the stairs itself.

She chased after it, watching the person open the front door and run out, before Luna came hurtling through the door herself and into the middle of the street, but there was no one there, save for a few stray cats.

The rain began to pour as Luna stood in the middle of the street looking around like a paranoid, not knowing where the man had gone.

"Fright are Ya' coming in or are Ya' going to stand there like an idiotic freak?!" shouted the landlord.

Luna clenched her fist, the shadows flinched the curled at her anger they were part of her and they moved with her emotions.

Her eyes had gone completely black, she turned and glared at the landlord, who seemed slightly unnerved by the fact that some of the shadows where crawling out of her eyes.

"Oh my god…" he muttered as he stepped away from the door and ran into the shadows.

Luna took one last look around the alley before she walked into the hotel, unaware that her mysterious stalker was watching her and smiling at her little show.

He let one boney hand, rest on his chin as he smirked. "Now that's a good trick." he muttered before he himself, disappeared into the shadows.

T.B.C:

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**Oh my what have we here? Who is the mysterious Whisper and what's his story? Plus who is Target what has he got to do with this, what have either of them had to do with it? Guess you'll need to tune in and find out. **

**Yay! Luna and Alice are starting to become the best friends, but who is the mysterious watcher that follows Luna and watches her? Guess we will find out soon.**


	3. Chapter 3

This is the end.

* * *

Darkness, Luna was greeted by darkness. It seemed that the world had gone black and then she realised, no it wasn't the world, it was because the covers were over her head.

She sighed and pulled them off, before stretching, showing off more of her grey skin then she'd like.

She had somehow managed to find a job at a local restaurant, as she recalled Alice was now working at a vintage clothes shop, after seeing her apartment, Luna came to the conclusion it suited her very well.

The problem with Luna's job was the lights at the back of the kitchen, they were so bright that she hated it, it felt like it was burning her grey skin.

She wondered if Alice was fairing any better at her place of work, it had been 2 weeks since Alice had moved in, Luna was able to keep her apartment, though her and Alice were considering moving into Alice's simply because it was bigger and meant they could keep more money for themselves and not the rent.

As far as Luna was aware, Alice worked at the victorian dress making shop, she was enjoying it and was recently working on a project for a very important person.

Alice was indeed doing such a thing, she was staring at the person happily, as the person stared at their reflection in disgust.

"I hate it!"

Alice blinked owl like at her. "What?"

"I said I hate it! That patter is all wrong!" she shouted her voice raising up so attracted the manager.

"Alice this is the third person you got wrong! I warned you the last time, you're fired!" he yelled at her.

Alice's face suddenly went blank, he pupils dilated to pin pricks in her blue eyes as she stared at the two.

Fired.

Alice blinked.

_Fired!_

She clutched the needle in her hand so tight it pricked her finger and blood began to trickle down her hand.

"Undo all the stitching, right now! Then pack you're bags and leave!" shouted the manager as he stormed out the room, leaving Alice and the woman.

"Well, are you going to get me out or what?" the woman snapped.

Alice turned to her and glared a tiny bit, it was a strange sight to see on the girl that always smiled.

"Yes, I'm just coming," she hissed as she threaded her needle.

* * *

Luna was rushing around, picking up plates and cleaning them, before she cleaned the potatoes and carrots and swept the floor.

As she was rushing around she got a glance through the doors into the main dining area to see Alice sitting at the table, she was looking straight ahead, blood was covering her face, dress, hands and it stained her golden hair.

Luna blinked and quickly ran through the doors to find out what was wrong with her friend, ignoring the shouts and the looks she was given. Her friend matter more to her then that.

"Alice?" she questioned.

Alice looked to the side and smiled at Luna, her gap toothed grin one of her key features.

"What happened?" asked Luna as she gestured to the blood coating Alice's form.

"Oh, I did some sowing."

Luna blinked. "On what?"

"They didn't like my dress."

"What?"

Alice turned to her and stared at her with these slightly scary and disturbed eyes. "They didn't like my dress, so I sowed them to it."

Luna blinked. "You did what?!"

"Fright, what the hell are you doing up here, you need to be at the back!" shouted Luna's boss as he stormed over to her.

"I was just making sure my friend was okay-"

"I don't care, get back to your work, freak, you're lucky I actually let you do this job!" he shouted as he slammed his fist down on the counter.

"Don't be mean to my friend!" Alice shouted as she slammed a pair of scissors into the man's hand.

"Alice!" Luna shouted, shock coating her voice like a high visibility jacket.

"He called you a name!" Alice protested.

Just then one of the guards came running over and knocked Alice to the floor, causing her to cry out in pain when she landed on a fork.

Luna stared at the blood and the tears that leaked out of Alice's eyes.

They had hurt her friend.

The shadows around the restaurant twitched and twisted.

They'd hurt the only person who had accepted her.

The shadows curled up Luna's fingers, her eyes began to grow black, the shadows began to curl out of the them, clawing angrily at the air.

they'd hurt Alice!

Luna screamed in fury as the shadows blasted across the room in solid shards, like a rain storm of black glass. They pierced anyone who got in their way, they stuck in the wall, people's hands, feet, arms, chest and head, before they all melted away into their rightful places and Luna's eyes went back to their odd, mismatched set of green and purple.

She walked over to her friend, ignoring the carnage and distress she'd just caused, as she helped Alice to her feet. "Come on, let's go home," she said as she led Alice towards the door.

Before she walked through, she turned to her boss and made a shadow into a blade and glared at him and his weak pathetic, cowering form.

"Consider this my resignation!" she shouted as she flicked her fingers forward and the shadow blade flew through the air before landing directly in the man's chest, right at his heart.

Luna left and all anyone heard was the light 'ding' of the bell signalling her leaving as she caught up with Alice.

* * *

Target stood watching the police as they ran into the restaurant and carted out body after body.

"Holly hell, what the hell happened there?" he muttered as he continued to watch.

"I believe it was the shadows bender," came an aerie voice from behind him.

Conner jumped, before spinning around, his wrist guns aiming right at the boys head.

"Don't move! I have you covered!" he shouted.

The boy rolled his eyes, the blew a bandage out of his eye sight. "Please, you were dead 20 minutes ago if I wanted to kill you."

"Who are you?" asked Conner, most logical question to ask in this situation.

"I'm no one of importance, but for your sake, you can call me Whisper, but do not worry, I already know who you are Conner or would you prefer Target, isn't that what you go by now?"

Target froze on the spot and stared at him.

"Now lower your guns, I'm not here to fight you, I'm here to talk to you," Whisper explained as he walked over to him as Conner slowly, but cautiously lowered his guns.

"About what exactly, because I'm on a tight schedule."

"A team up. I need your help with something. I can do it, but I need somebody to be my cover man and you seemed like the most logical candidate. So what do you say?" asked Whisper as he studied the chaos on the street.

"I'm in!"

* * *

"So, you can control shadows?" Alice questioned as they ran down the second alley of the day, rats scurried in all directions to dodge their running feet, water spliced as they raced through the puddles, hardly caring if the water stained the clothes, Alice's dress was ruined anyway from the blood.

"Yes, now will you keep up!" Luna shouted as she turned a corner, coming to an abrupt halt.

Alice came round the corner and bumped into her, causing her to fall to the floor, before she got to her feet and looked over at what Luna was staring at.

It was two men it seemed. One looked very scary, he was wearing a ragged and stitched up shirt, a very disturbing mask was on his face and a noose hung round his neck, but Alice, herself, was more concentrated on the other man, who was much smaller then the walking bean pole, he was also dressed very much like a victorian gentleman.

Luna on the other hand, took no notice what so ever, instead she stared at the man with the noose around his neck, he seemed to be smiling at her, she couldn't see his face like, he was wearing a burlap sack as a mask, but he looked like he was mailing, Luna could just sense it.

"Time to go," muttered Luna as she grabbed Alice and made the shadows envelop them and transport them to a different part of the city.

The two men, the Mad Hatter and the Scarecrow stood in place smiling.

"And that was another good trick," Scarecrow muttered as he tapped his chin in thought.

"Did you see her, dear March Hare? Did you see her, it was Alice!" cried Hatter as he jump dup and down in a merry little circle.

Scarecrow sighed and looked at the floor. "I'm sorry hatter, I was paying attention to the girl with the grey skin. I've been watching her for a while, she seems to be full of surprises, so full of potential is that girl."

"Are we going to find them again?" asked Hatter his voice was timid but edited, he had, after all, found Alice.

"Of course Jervis, in fact, I think they're ready. Let's go and pay them a visit, hmm?"

"Oh yes, yes, yes! Take Alice to Wonderland!" cried Hatter as he chased after the long legged Scarecrow, as he walked into the dark part of the alley, determined to get back to the set of apartments before the two girls.

* * *

"Do you know who they were?!" Luna screamed as they ran towards the apartment building.

"Umm, no."

"That was the Scarecrow and the Mad Hatter! Oh god! The Mad Hatter, Alice did he see you?" Luna shouted as she ran inside the hotel, with Alice following her. Both of them never noticed the chemical smell in the air as they raced past the desk, never realising their landlord was behind it, dead on the floor, with a look of pure fear and terror on his face.

"Umm, yes Luna he did," Alice admitted.

"Oh.. hell, we just have to hope they don't know where we live-" Luna was cut off abruptly as she and Alice stared in shock and slight fear, for standing in Alice's apartment was none other then the Scarecrow and the Mad Hatter.

"Hello my dears," the Scarecrow chuckled at their frightened faces. "We have an offer to propose to you."

T.B.C:


	4. Chapter 4

We're not mad, just misunderstood.

**Note: I wanted to say I'm sorry for how long this took to get put up, I had a mental block on the story and couldn't come up with anything, so forgive me! :) So here is the next chapter and I hope you enjoy it! :)**

* * *

When Luna came to, the world was spinning a little, she could faintly hear the sound of dripping water and then she heard someone calling her name, it was so very faint, but she could still make out her name.

She opened her eyes and slowly sat up and was greeted by Alice's smiling face.

"Luna!" she cried, the gap in her teeth seemed to be more prominent now, but that just could be Luna.

"Alice.. what, where are we?" she asked.

"Oh, we're at the Scarecrow's and the Hatter's hiding place!" she cried, her smile never leaving her face.

"Are you okay?" Luna asked, then she realised Alice was wearing a homemade 'Alice' costume, it was slightly ragged, but it had neat little bows on it, even an Alice band in her hair had a neat little blue bow on it.

"I am fine dear moonbeam! I am just happy you're alive, at first the Scarecrow wasn't too sure if he had hit you too hard, but it seems you are fine. They are rather nice people too, the Hatter especially!"

"Are you crazy?!" Luna shouted. Why was Alice talking to these people, didn't she know how dangerous they were?

Alice smiled at her, shaking her head. "Not crazy Luna, mad."

"Mad?"

"As a hatter actually."

Luna blinked. Oh no, that's not a good sign. "Alice, listen to me, have they put any mind control device on you?"

"Heavens no, why would I do that to my Alice?" asked the Mad Hatter as he walked inside, smiling like Alice was.

All the smiling was starting to creep Luna out.

"Now, Jervis. We agreed, she was going to be mine, remember?"

The new voice sounded slightly older then the Mad Hatter's more mature and… sane.

"He wants to talk to you in private," Jervis explained as he walked over to Alice, wrapping his arms around her, causing Alice to giggle.

Luna, personally, found the whole thing sick and not in a good way.

She cautiously walked out of the room towards a very dark part, that seemed to be brown in the decor department. She walked through the only door that had a small stream of light coming through it.

The voice… for some reason it sounded familiar and not because the Scarecrow had spoken to her before. This was a voice from long ago, a voice she knew when she was a child that chilled all the oner kids to the bone, but gave her great comfort.

As she walked through the door, the light dimmed a little. "Don't want to burn that grey skin of yours do we little Fright?"

That made Luna pause, now she remembered the voice, but it couldn't be, could it? Well, she'd only met him once, but he was nice to her, the only one that was nice to her.

"J- Jonathan? Is that you?" she questioned and stared in utter shock, as Jonathan Crane stood up from behind his desk, that had quite a lot of chemicals and flasks.

"Jonathan!" Luna cried in excitement as she ran over to him.

Jonathan smiled at Luna, pushing his glasses up his nose before sitting back down behind his desk.

"It's good to see you again Luna. Do sit down, I wish to talk to you-"

"About the proposition? If it's joining you, I will do it, Jon I'm a wanted criminal now, so I'll join up with you!" Luna shouted, she sounded like a hyper child. It had been so long since, well since she'd seen Jon.

"Well, I guess if you really want to-"

"Cut it out Jon, I know that's what you wanted to ask me!"

Jonathan smiled at Luna, but it was creepy smile, though it didn't bother her, it did put her on edge.

"Well, if that's the case, you're going to need some work clothes," Jonathan explained.

* * *

Target didn't trust Whisper, even though he'd been working with him for a couple of weeks now, he still didn't trust him, at least not as far as he could shoot him.

Which, according to Whisper, he couldn't.

Target wasn't sure if he liked Whisper or not.

"Are you going to continue to stare at the back of my head all day kid?" Whisper growled.

Target glared and stuck his tongue out. "You call me kid, but we're the same age!"

Whisper smirked and turned to him. "Sorry, but, I'm more mature then you will ever be."

Target wanted to rip that stupid smirk off his face.

"Now come on! We need to get there in time!" Whisper snapped as he jumped off the building.

"Where are we going?!" Target yelled as he jumped down. "You never say where we're going and the next thing I know you're telling me to get my guns ready because we'll be facing half of Black Mask's goons or something!"

Whisper held a hand up which signalled silence.

Target obeyed, but only because the last time he didn't he got a punch to the jaw for his trouble.

"What is it?" he whispered, though this was him, he could never keep his mouth closed for long.

Suddenly a dagger came flying out of the shadows, Whisper pushed Target to the floor as he dropped, the dagger sailed past them and into the shadow.

He quickly got to his feet and turned to glare. "Shadow bender," he grit out.

"Shadow what?!" yelled Target.

Suddenly a grey skinned girl came out of the shadows a glare on her face.

"Holly, wain mackerel!" Target cried. He'd recognise that glare any where. "Luna!"

"You know her?" Whisper growled.

"Know her?! No of course not, she was costumer at my shop is all!"

Luna blinked in confusion. "Wait…" she muttered her eyes going from the black pits to normal colour of mismatched green and purple with white pupils. "Conner!"

Suddenly Alice came racing round the corner, battle axe held high above her head before Luna stopped her. "You're late again."

"I had to sort my dress out!"

"Oh for the love of- Alice!"

Alice stared at Luna and blinked. "I have to look my best!" she protested.

"I really don't think the guys are gonna care if you're looking your best or not with you wielding that thing around," muttered Conner, nodding towards the battle axe. "Plus," he went on, a smirk coming across his face. "Wearing a skit that short, you're gonna' hear no complaints."

Whisper face palmed and Luna and Alice gave him a dead beat look.

"What?" asked Target.

"Will you stop trying to hit on girls," Whisper snapped. "It's embarrassing!"

Target went to protest when a short laugh came from the darkness and they all tensed.

"That's what I like, fresh meat," came a New York accent. Well, it sounded like it was New York.

Black Mask walked out of the shadows, a girl in a mask at his heels.

"Black Mask," Target whispered in shock.

"So, you guys want to get up in the world I take it," Black Mask said, you could practically hear the smirk he was wearing. "You want to show the world what you're capable of."

"Yeah so what's it to you?" Luna snapped her hands becoming fists as the shadows tensed with her.

"Well, I can help you do that, Ya' know what I mean?" Black Mask said clasping his hands together.

"And how, exactly, would you go about doing that?" asked Whisper, his hand rested on his katanna.

"Well, err, you see, I have myself this little problem," Black Mask said, turning his back to them, placing his hands behind his back. "There's this kid, works for the Joker and well, she's err, been causing me some problems, only little ones, but they're still problems." He turned back to them and gestured to all of them. "You get rid of this problem for me, I'll make sure you go up in the world, you're reps will build to such a hight, if and only if, you solve this problem for me."

The group of kids glanced at each other.

"So, you're gonna solve this problem for me?" asked Black Mask.

"Where will he find this girl?" asked Whisper, he didn't trust Black Mask, that much was certain.

Black Mask clicked his fingers. "Sorrow."

The girls behind him stepped forward, holding an i-pad in her hand. "You'll find her at these co-ordinates." she said turning the i-pad round to face the other kids. "You solve the problem, me and Black Mask will make sure you're reps go through the roof."

"Black Mask and I," Luna corrected.

"What?" snapped Sorrow, the eyes behind the mask narrowed.

"You said 'Me and Black Mask', it should be 'Black Mask and I', that's the correct way."

Sorrow growled and took a step forward.

"Sorrow," Black Mask growled and Sorrow stopped instantly.

"So you gonna' do it?" she grit out.

"We'll do it, but only if you promise this isn't a set up," Luna hissed.

"You have my word," Black Mask said.

"Ha," Whisper laughed bitterly. "The word of a mobster, that's reassuring."

"You gotta' a problem with it?"

"No sir," Target but in before Whisper could snap.

"Well, get to it then."

The group ran to the edge of the building, jumping off and heading in the direction the co-ordinates said.

Black Mask smirked. "Idiots," he muttered and Sorrow laughed with him as they went back into the shadows.

T.B.C:


End file.
